Shen Lian stood calmly at some distance away. He stared at Hali Zi without fear. He had never heard of the Nine-Headed King. Even if he knew that he was an extremely powerful demon king, things would not be any different.
He did not bother with the small talks and drew an arc with his wooden sword immediately. As though the sunlight had been gathered at the tip of his wooden sword, the scorching heat could be felt.
The wooden sword was encapsulated by a green halo which insulated it from the heat.
A fireball appeared from nothingness. Following the movement of the tip of the sword, the fireball came crashing at Hali Zi.
Hali Zi did not expect Shen Lian to act so quickly. Luckily, with his experience in cultivation, he was able to react quickly. He spouted purple juice and the juice collided with the fireball. The fireball became purple. Along with the air current, it rolled toward Shen Lian.
Shapeless Qi started to gather around Shen Lian, as if he was covered in misty clouds. The purple poisonous fire exploded in the misty clouds and brought forth smoke and dust.
However, no cries were heard following the explosion. At a big tree nearby, Shen Lian lowered the little girl slowly. "Don't be afraid," he said.
He tapped the tip of his toe and charged at Hali Zi with his wooden sword. There were buzzing noise sparking in the air and that was Hali Zi's tongue moving at the speed of lightning. Only a pale red shadow could be seen.
Even the normal toads could capture bugs that flew past them in the blink of an eye, what more a toad demon? After cultivating for one hundred years, not only could he speak, he could turn most cultivators into his food.
Despite the speed being too fast for human's eyes to follow, Shen Lian could still see the orbit of the movements clearly.
The breakthrough this time not only allowed him to reorganize the divine Qi in him and obtained mana, but it also transformed his mortal body. Especially after he connected the entry points in his body, he was able to exercise a stronger control over his body.
When he was mid-air charging with a fatal pierce, he could turn his waist as though he was performing a sword dance effortlessly.
With an impossible twist of his body, he dodged from Hali Zi's tongue. By the time the tongue rolled back, Shen Lian moved at a faster speed and pierced Hali Zi with his wooden sword.
He used runes as the basis of his swordplay and echoed the Qi of heaven and earth, forming a talisman. Even though it was not impactful, it was impressive.
Electrical sparks flashed in the air and Hali Zi's vision was affected. As a demon, Hali Zi was instinctively afraid of thunder. The moment of hesitation led to him being blinded by the lightning. He could not open his eyes.
Shortly after, his eyes felt cold and all he could see was an endless darkness.
Hali Zi knew that Shen Lian's pierce was the reason behind his blindness.
He extended his sense and perception and felt the circling of the wind, grass, wood, flowers, and trees. However, there was no trace of Shen Lian.
As a measure of self-defense, he extended his tongue and swung it around rapidly.
Hali Zi went berserk and rammed himself into the main courtyard. He thought that if he could not do anything about Shen Lian, he might as well kill some humans to blow off some steam.
The moment he tried to make a move, he perceived a sharp sword aura.
Without trying to avoid it, he turned and faced the direction of the sword aura. At the same time, he expanded and contracted his lower abdomen at an impossible speed. There was a loud sound and the surrounding area collapsed from the motion.
A sphere of light came out of his mouth, extinguishing the sword aura immediately.
The little girl saw the strange scene from the tree. A small sphere of light was flying toward Shen Lian at high speed and slowed down after a loud piercing sound.
Consequently, the overwhelming fear caused by it was weakened.
Shen Lian kept going backward and the sword aura he emitted fell onto the sphere of light. After backing away for some distance, the sphere of light finally fell onto the ground.
The process sounded long, but in reality, it happened within a few breaths' time.
Hali Zi could not comprehend how a human cultivator could operate his mana so quickly.
If Shen Lian could condense such strong mana within seconds, he must have strong supernatural powers. Why would Shen Lian bother with such troublesome measures when he could have defeated him with just any powerful spells?
Hali Zi did not know that Shen Lian was an aberration. Before going through Huandan, all of his meridians and acupoints had been unblocked.
He could operate mana between his breaths - considerably quicker than his fellow cultivators.
His ability to condense his mana was significantly better than a normal cultivator. It was easy for him to form a talisman or wield his sword aura during battles.
As the sphere of light fell, Hali Zi's divine Qi withered.
As Shen Lian unleashed his sword aura on Hali Zi mercilessly, Hali Zi lost all hope of surviving the battle.
The last Fire Talisman burnt Hali Zi's blood and flesh completely. Meanwhile, Hali Zi's inner core that had not taken shape yet was kept by Shen Lian. He thought that it might prove to be useful if he brought it back to Qing Xuan and could rack up some meritorious deeds for himself as well.
Hali Zi's spirit turned into green smoke and that was wiped out by Shen Lian as well.
The blood and flesh of this toad would be a good supplement to the vital Qi. However, with Shen Lian's level of attainment, ingesting the Qi of heaven and earth would be purer for him.
Shen Lian was particularly irked by the fact that Hali Zi consumed a significant number of people.
Due to the resentment between the Flying Celestials Island and him, Shen Lian could not be bothered to deal with them and decided to leave.
The little girl acted on her impulse and jumped down from the tree. Shen Lian reacted quickly and caught her in time.
"Big brother, can I cultivate together with you?" the little girl said as she tugged on his sleeve.
After all, she was from the Flying Celestials Island, which was why she knew about the broad strokes about cultivation.
"How do I teach you when I myself have not attained much in terms of cultivation?" Shen Lian did not act coldly towards the child and lowered her gently onto the ground.
The door of the courtyard swung open and the first to come out was the little girl's mother.
"Bye," Shen Lian whispered and smiled at the child.
As the wind blew, Shen Lian disappeared slowly over the horizon. The mess left behind and the collapsed ground, they were the only sign that something unusual had taken place earlier.
The young person from the Xiao family that lost his martial art abilities to Shen Lian recognized Shen Lian's back. Anger welled up in him – that was not hatred, but jealousy. If he did not lose his abilities, he would be the carefree cultivator who had just left instead of being useless and hide amidst the crowd.
Out of nowhere, he heard a sound. It was an airy whisper accompanied by the demon's laughter from the depth of the Nine Serenities Underworld.
"You want to get stronger?"
The mere five words brought along endless temptations, and he had no reason to refuse. "Yes," he replied without hesitation. It was really noisy, which was why no one heard him.
After he said yes to the mysterious voice, he felt iciness between his brows, as though something had crawled in.
No one realized the hint of blood red that flashed past in his eyes. His entire aura became spookier, as though he was a different person altogether.